YCLSA welcomes new appointments to Cabinet

The Young Communist League of South Africa welcomes the new appointments to cabinet by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The new appointments signal the beginning of a new era of much hope and anticipation for a better, more effective and transformative government. We congratulate the General Secretary of the SACP, Dr. Blade Nzimande, on his appointment as Minister of Transport as well as the appointment of all other SACP leaders into the new cabinet. It is indeed a new cabinet for a new dawn that includes the alliance in its representation. The hard work to rebuild confidence and credibility in government starts now. We wish to express our undying support to the administration of Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa and the new cabinet of seasoned, competent and capable cadres. The YCLSA is behind you and we wish you well in executing your responsibilities to the people of our country.

The YCLSA welcomes the new appointments with reservations. It is not a blank cheque to the new administration and we will be holding this government to account on its pro poor, working class policies. The policies of the ANC – led alliance must be implemented and the alliance must be the strategic political centre for accountability, monitoring and evaluation. The speedy implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI), land appropriation and the transformation of the education sector in its entirety will be monitored closely by the YCLSA. The ‘new dawn’ should translate into more jobs for youth and more opportunities for education and cooperatives development amongst the youth. Youth employment creation must be an apex priority of the Ramaphosa administration.

We also note with concern the lack of youth representation in the new cabinet. The youth constitute 42% of the total population in South Africa. We urge Comrade Ramaphosa to take this into account when undertaking the cabinet review process later on in the year. The cabinet review process must ensure that youth are represented as Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Developments in the rest of the world suggest that South Africa is lagging far behind other countries in promoting youth leadership at the highest levels of the State. We urge Comrade Ramaphosa to lead the way in this regard and ensure that young people are well represented in his cabinet.

The YCLSA supports the cabinet review process but this should not lead to job losses for public servants. We will defend the public servants who work tirelessly to ensure that government work is executed in the best interests of our people. The public service is the largest employer in the country and must continue to employ more young South Africans in particular.